News-Antique.com - Jul 04,2009 - Kees Van Dongen Revived and Revalued artmarketblog.com
The first major retrospective held in North America of work by Dutch born French artist Kees Van Dongen (1877-1968) was held at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts from the January 22 to April 19. This event is sure to have played a part in the exceptional results achieved by Christies for a collection of works by Van Dongen sold on the 20th of May as part of the Art Impressionniste Et Modern sale held in Paris. A total of ten watercolour paintings by Van Dongen were included in the sale the most interesting of which were eight works originally from the Proust collection which depict various different street and scenes of high society. Each of these scenes were painted by Van Dongen as illustrations for a famous book by French author Marcel Proust titled A la recherche du Temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time). A total of 77 watercolours were painted by Van Dongen for the book which is a memoir/autobiographical novel that consists of seven volumes and a total of around 3200 pages. Making these paintings even more desirable is the fact that, according to Christies, they will be all included in the forthcoming Kees Van Dongen catalogue raisonne being prepared by Jacques Chalom Des Cordes under the sponsorship of the Wildenstein Institute. It is noted in the catalogue that an attestion of inclusion will be given to the buyer of each work.
Each of the eight illustrations by Van Dongen for the book by Proust had estimates of either 25,000 35,000 or 20,000-30,000. The least successful of the paintings still managed to exceed the estimate of 25,000 35,000 selling for 49,000 and the most successful of the paintings sold for more than five times the 30,000 high estimate reaching an amazing 163,000. According to Christies the main buyers were American and European collectors. The results for all eight works were as follows:
Lot 41, Sale 5563, Paris
KEES VAN DONGEN (1877-1968)Le narrateur et Albert Bloch ΰ la maison close
estimate: 25,000 35,000
price realized 121,000 ($165,029)
Lot 42, Sale 5563, Paris
KEES VAN DONGEN (1877-1968)Gilberte Swann et des amies au Bois de Boulogne
estimate: 25,000 35,000
price realized: 139,000 ($189,579)
Lot 43, Sale 5563, Paris
KEES VAN DONGEN (1877-1968)Les Permissionnaires
estimate: 20,000 30,000
price realized: 163,000 ($222,312)
Lot 44, Sale 5563, Paris
KEES VAN DONGEN (1877-1968)La nouvelle Gilberte
estimate: 25,000 35,000
price realized: 151,000 ($205,945)
Lot 45, Sale 5563, Paris
KEES VAN DONGEN (1877-1968)Le Mariage de Robert de Saint-Loup et de Gilberte Swann
estimate: 25,000 35,000
price realized: 49,000 ($66,830)
Lot 46, Sale 5563, Paris
KEES VAN DONGEN (1877-1968)Le Baron Charlus ΰ la gare de Donciθres
estimate: 20,000 30,000
price realized: 109,000 ($148,663)
Lot 47, Sale 5563, Paris
KEES VAN DONGEN (1877-1968)Le narrateur avec deux servantes
estimate: 20,000 30,000
price realized 61,000 ($83,196)
Lot 48, Sale 5563, Paris
KEES VAN DONGEN (1877-1968)Robert de Saint-Loup et le Prince de Borodino
